


Childish

by wyvernlordminerva



Series: ShiroSieg Week 2k16 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Shiro's a jerk, and the Deeprealms don't exist, childhood enemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-12 00:50:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7077691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyvernlordminerva/pseuds/wyvernlordminerva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 2: Desperation/Maturity<br/>In which Shiro and Siegbert meet as kids and don’t hit it off immediately.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Childish

Shiro could only think of how utterly, entirely unfair his life had been to bring him to this moment.

He remembered the first time they met. His father had dragged him along on a diplomatic visit, citing his recent “unruly behavior” as a reasonable argument against leaving him at home. He scoffed. He was already eight, like he couldn’t handle himself!

Now, if he was acting out of turn, you might be thinking, shouldn’t Ryouma have done the exact opposite of bringing him along to a country they already had strained relations with? You would be thinking correctly, and his uncle, Takumi, would’ve agreed with you. Ryouma had simply smiled and shook his head, claiming that he had a plan to keep the boy under control. Shiro had been indignant the first time he heard it, and, staring it right in the face, he wasn’t any more impressed.

The prince of Nohr didn’t live up to his country’s reputation; quiet, sensitive, and, most importantly, smaller than him. As Prince Siegbert had introduced himself and tentatively held out his hand to shake, Shiro smirked. With a crushing grip, he quickly jerked the boy forward and gracefully sidestepped, causing him to trip and fall on his face with a yelp. He admired his work with a smile as his dad yelled at him, frantically apologizing to the other king. King Xander pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan, and thus was the beginning of the most chaotic week either of them had the displeasure of experiencing.

Shiro was ruthless, making it his mission to harass the other boy as much as possible. In the morning, he would sneak into his room and hide his things. In the afternoon, he would chase him with spiders and drop them down his shirt. And finally, in the middle of the night, he would hide under his bed, waiting for him to walk by so he could grab at his ankles. Siegbert couldn’t sleep for weeks.

Shiro didn’t really hate Siegbert, per say, he just really wanted to tick off his father for dragging him along like this. And tick off his father he did. He was grounded for months after the incident, but he didn’t really care. He had made his point, and hearing Siegbert scream was kind of funny, anyway.

Such is how King Xander found himself spending his Saturday morning trying to coax his son out for breakfast. After the first few days, Siegbert had caught on that Shiro was an insatiable menace and decided to lock himself in his room until he left. Xander groaned, knocking on his door for the fifth time.

“Siegbert, Shiro’s grounded. He’s not going to bother you anymore.” he said.

“That’s what he wants you to think!” he cried. Xander sighed, running a hand down his face. He recalled being similarly sensitive when he was younger, but never to this extent. Ryouma appeared, having finished scolding his own son.

“I’m sorry, Xander.” he said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I honestly thought they would get along.”

“I was hoping Shiro might help him become more comfortable with strangers, but I think now he might be turned off from the idea entirely.” he said, groaning.

“And I was hoping Siegbert would calm him down a bit. I think he’s even worse…” They stared at each other and let out a synchronized sigh.

“Well, time to start repairing the damage…”

It would be years before either parent would even consider letting the two interact again, but eventually, it became inevitable. Sakura’s wedding was quickly approaching, and at his age, it would be insulting not to invite the crown prince of Nohr. Ryouma sighed, eyeing his son out of the corner of his eye as he drafted the invitation. Shiro was shoving candy in his retainer’s mouth, trying to see how many he could hold for some ungodly stupid reason, and it didn’t fill him with confidence.

* * *

The moment Xander mentioned the opportunity to “better get to know our neighbors”, as he’d put it, Siegbert was already packing. He’d never been to Hoshido before, and quite frankly, he was honored to finally have the chance to visit. Xander shook his head in amusement at his son’s excitement, wondering if he should risk ruining the moment by mentioning Prince Shiro.  
He decided to anyway.

“You do realize Prince Shiro will be there too, yes?” he said. Siegbert grimaced. He was sort of hoping he’d died in a tragic accident or something, as horrible as that sounded.

“I can handle it.” he said, knowing full well that if he were as awful as when they had first met, he absolutely could not handle it.

* * *

And here Shiro had found himself, impatiently welcoming nobles one after another as they arrived. He couldn’t believe just how many there were; he’d been there all day and they showed no signs of stopping. As the Nohrian royals approached, he barely spared the other prince a second glance. He mumbled his greeting, halfheartedly shaking his outstretched hand, only to suddenly freeze in place. He looked up at Prince Siegbert and gasped.

“Is something wrong?” he said. Oh no. Oh no no no. This was disgusting. Despicable. A sin against all that was good and decent in the world. 

“What the hell. You’re tall.” Shiro intelligently sputtered. His father snorted loudly. Prince Siegbert stared down (stared _down_!) at him in confusion. Now that he thought of it, yes, he was about a head taller than him.

“Ah, I am, aren’t I?” he mumbled to himself. “My apologies. This must make it very hard to drop spiders down my shirt.” Even King Xander gaped at that remark. Never before had he been insulted so politely. 

His father stifled his laughter long enough to motion to the servants, letting them guide the royals to their rooms. Shiro fumed silently. And here he’d almost felt bad for him. Guilty, even. Maybe he had been planning on apologizing, but it was clear now he didn’t need it.

For the rest of the event, the princes pointedly avoided each other. Any hope of the two ever getting along seemed completely dead, until one day, as Shiro was boredly wandering the halls, he stumbled across something interesting. Literally stumbled, as he truly hadn’t meant to ruin that priceless artwork, but hey, accidents happen.

As he was frantically sweeping away the evidence of his mistake, he noticed something peeking out from beneath the furniture. With a tug, he freed it, staring in confusion at the sketchbook before him. As far as he knew, no one in the castle liked drawing except for Kagero, whose art was… distinct, to say the least, and she certainly wouldn’t leave her things around the castle. He flipped it over to the front cover. In neat lettering, the name “Siegbert” was written in the bottom-right corner.

He laughed. So Prince Siegbert had been hiding his stuff around the castle to keep it safe? Admittedly, that was kind of cute.

His hand hovered over the cover, unsure as to whether or not he should open it. It kind of seemed intrusive, but hey, if he didn’t want people going through his things, maybe he shouldn’t have hid them around like some kind of bizzare Easter egg hunt. He took a deep breath and flipped to the front page.

“What are you doing?” Siegbert said, suddenly looming over him. It was too late; he had already looked inside. “G-give that back!” He lunged for his sketchbook, Shiro avoiding him effortlessly.

“Dude, this is incredible.” he said, mesmerized by the page.

“What?”

“You’re really good.” He turned the page. Prince Siegbert flushed.

“That one’s horrible.” he mumbled, slumping against the wall. He could feel his self-consciousness dragging him into a back alley and beating him senseless.

“No, it’s really great!” he said. “You’re really talented.” He flipped the page again, Prince Siegbert ripping the sketchbook out of his hands and cradling it defensively before he could see it. He avoided his eyes, staring at the floor.

“Umm…” Shiro faltered. No time like the present, right? “I’m sorry for being such a jerk. Like all the time.” Siegbert pursed his lips. “I’m really not good with words, but…”

“You want to start over.” he finished, giving him an unreadable stare. Shiro bit his lip. “…Alright. I guess we were both being a little immature.” He smiled nervously, the sight warming his heart.

“Awesome!” Shiro exclaimed, punching his shoulder in excitement. He winced. “Whoops, sorry. Oh, I have to introduce you to Asugi! C'mon!” He grabbed Siegbert’s arm and began dragging him away. It was impressive how quickly the other prince could forget the past.

He clutched his sketchbook a little tighter. At least he’d intervened before he saw… _that_. Figure drawing was hard, he justified, and it wasn’t often you find a model as ideal as Shiro.


End file.
